How To Be A Heartbreaker
by bottled happiness
Summary: AU. After being pestered and pressured by Utau to write a song for the idol, Rima makes it her mission to write a good one. And that means to perfect the art of breaking hearts. She had expected results, but most definitely not like this.


**How to Be a Heartbreaker - Marina and the Diamonds**

_Check it out, as well as her other songs. Not usually my genre, but Marina is amazing._

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**how to be a heartbreaker**

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**1.**

Rima Mashiro walks out of the building, a coffee cup in her hand. She has 10 minutes left until the end of her lunch break so she takes her sweet, sweet time heading back towards the office to detour through the park.

Savouring the peace and relaxation that comes from a nice walk in the park, Rima uses the time to take in her surroundings – something many people are too busy hustling around to do. It is noon on a Tuesday but the blonde notes an excess amount of couples distributed around the park. To Rima's left and right, pairings are relaxing on the grass, sitting on a park bench and swinging the other's hand while taking a walk together.

Inwardly, she scowls. Has there always been this many lovers in the park without Rima noticing? Or is it some made up National Couples Day today?

Continuing on her small journey, Rima tosses her now-empty coffee cup into a bin as she passes from a distance, smirking triumphantly as it falls right in. Apparently being bored at work with nothing but a small trash can and scraps of paper has its perks. However, Rima is stopped in her tracks as the couple who are walking in front of her pause to practically suck each other's face off. Distantly, she hears a high pitched squeal and another young voice exclaiming 'ew!' from what she presumes are two young children who must have spotted the same very-much-in-love couple. Annoyed, she steps around them but as she does so, she notices the male has his eyes wide open while in the middle of making out with his girlfriend.

Very-much-in-love indeed.

**— + + + —**

_Utau Hoshina and Amu Hinamori lounged around the latter's coffee table as Rima walked back into the room after using the bathroom. The girls were just hanging out at Amu's as usual, but as a group of three rather than the usual four. The peppy Yaya Yuiki was unable to join them; she already had prior commitments._

_"So Rima," Utau drawled, "I hear you're a writer."_

_"Journalist, Utau. I don't do songs." Rima sighed. This was a topic that had already been discussed numerous times before._

_Utau pouted. "But I'm producing a new album and I want to incorporate my friends into in somehow. I've got Ikuto agreeing to accompany one of my songs with his violin."_

_"Sing a song about us, then! I have never written a song before. I research and report. I don't think you want a new hit about the latest political scandal."_

_"Aw, come on Rima. It's something new and it might be fun, you never know." Amu butted in at that moment, not too bothered by the oncoming argument._

_"No." Stubborn Rima._

_"Fine," Utau sighed. "But it's my birthday soon and you know what I would really like..." she trailed off, leaving her suggestion lingering in the air._

_Rima looked away and didn't reply. The small blonde didn't like exploring her boundaries, although the idea sparked some interest in her. A minuscule amount, but still interest nonetheless._

**— + + + —**

Back in her office, Rima types the finishing touches to her story before submitting it to her boss. Her work for the day is done and she can return to her apartment a little earlier. Rima gathers her bag and checks her phone, finding a text from Utau. Of course, it's about the song she is hoping to expect for her birthday. Not bothering to reply, Rima puts away her mobile and heads towards the exit. She passes one of her coworkers, Rikka, who waves at Rima then continues to gesture while taking on her phone while exclaiming, "... and then he told her he never actually loved her at all! I can't believe he broke her heart like that... You know how much she liked him..." Rima couldn't help but hear a snippet of the conversation; Rikka was being unnecessarily loud.

Rima unlocks the door to her apartment but can't help thinking back to Rikka's conversation and the couple in the park - or more specifically, the boy who was most definitely a heartbreaker.

_I think_, Rima decides, _that I've just thought of a song to write about_.

**— + + + —**

Of course, Rima is suffering from a case of songwriter's block. She has her general idea, heartbreakers, but where to start? After wasting her precious sleeping lying in bed pondering the mysteries of life – as you do, right before you're trying to sleep – and trying to figure out how to write this _goddamn _song, the young adult muses about her own previous relationships. All of them had broken her heart one way or another. But writing a song about someone breaking your heart is so cliché, and Rima doesn't want Utau sounding like the next Taylor Swift because of her amateur _—more like nonexistent— _song writing skills.

But how does one write a song about love when her last relationship feels like eons ago? Rima has been concentrating more on her career lately to be worrying about her love life. For the song Rima would have to put herself into the market again. And besides, Utau would want her to _feel _a song.

Then it comes to her. Stable enough as an intern and at Uni, she could put in some time for a relationship and a bit of fun. And to protect herself from suffering the same fate of a broken heart, empty ice cream containers and _The Notebook _reruns, isn't it safer to be fake?

Will she feel guilty about hurting someone else's heart? It would just be one person. Teach them that love isn't easy to find. Rima laughs dryly; after all, she would know. Her parents never worked out and neither did any of her boyfriends. All she wanted was the true love she never received and they all dropped her the minute she tried to make things work between them.

One person. How bad could it possibly be?

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**A/N:** This was originally going to be a oneshot but then I realised it would have been quite a long oneshot and decided against it. But you know, that's just life. So I present to you this (hopefully) short multi-chaptered story.

And I'm laughing to myself because this proofreading thing in the Doc Manager thing is telling me that there are a few 'complex expressions' around. ha ha ha ha ha no. i'll just let you guys suffer with complex expressions  
But wow, do people even use the proofread feature? I think it's really good and could name a lot of stories that would benefit from it... (sorry!)


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